New laws place the onus of stopping child abuse on children, while doing nothing to prevent abuse. (Getty Images)
I’m sitting in a virtual room with a few attorneys discussing how we can support young people’s access to health care without running afoul of the new law criminalizing adults supporting minors who access abortion ,when someone says, “Well, the law doesn’t prevent kids from educating their peers on abortion. Why don’t we just train them?”
I’m struck by this comment. Not because young people aren’t capable of supporting their peers; but because they shouldn’t have to do this. They shouldn’t have to bear the burden of counseling their peers or risk putting trusted adults in the crosshairs of an overzealous district attorney or a million dollar lawsuit.
This law is just one example of a series of laws passed this year purporting to “protect children and punish those who hurt them ”. Another is one that allows for the death penalty for child rape, and another, lifetime monitoring for those convicted of continuous sexual abuse.